Sam Newman feared ‘a bullet’ at the hands of hitmen sent by ‘Mr Death’ to attack Fred Cook

SAM Newman has opened up about the scariest day of his life when he saved his mate Fred Cook from possible death at the hands of underworld hit men.

Newman recalls the moment he intervened to save Cook, the VFA and VFL legend, after three men sent by feared criminal Dennis Allen had set upon him at the Station Hotel in Port Melbourne, beating him senseless.

He touches on the story in the new book, Fabulous Fred: The Strife and Times of Fred Cook, written by Paul Amy.

Sam Newman speaks at Fred Cook wedding. from the book, ‘Fabulous Fred: The Strife and Times of Fred Cook by Paul AmySource:Supplied

“I walked in and there were some notorious figures sitting around with a handgun on a table and I asked where Fred was and they motioned upstairs,’’ Newman told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“They said don’t get involved. Fred was all bloodied and he wasn’t very well — they had beaten him up pretty good. He didn’t want an ambulance, he wanted to stay there on his own and as I walked out I said ‘you’re strong, brave men’ thinking as I walked off I was going to get a bullet in the back of my head.

Former footballer Fred Cook is escorted into court to face drug charges in December 1991. Picture: Herald SunSource:News Limited

“I got in my car and drove off as calmly as I thought I could and as I turned the corner I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest.”

Newman, who has also written the foreword to the book, says it happened in the mid 80s after Allen suspected that Cook was a police informer.

“It was reality TV 20 years before its time,’’ Newman said. “You couldn’t get tension and drama and anxiety like it. To this day I don’t know what it was over, no point asking the bleeding obvious, but it was an instinctive thing you do. You’d have to think more about not doing it.”

Newman said it was an interesting time when certain people held no fear.

“There was that plank where extortion, drugs and money ruled and it’s a pretty scary time when people don’t care about the consequences and don’t have a fear about what happens to them,’’ he said.

“Most of us wouldn’t entertain having a gun, but to them it’s a badge of honour. In some sections it still exists today.”